There are a numerous and wide range of prosthetic devices which can be coupled to the remaining portion of the limb of an amputee. However, until the instant invention, there remained a long felt and unresolved need for a prosthetic device for handling a ball. This may be due to a variety of unresolved difficulties in the provision of a prosthetic structure for ball handling.
In the first instance, conventional prosthetic devices do not allow both retention of a ball unaided by another limb and also release of the ball in response to a substantially normal range of throwing movements of the remaining portion of a limb of an amputee.
Another difficulty involves provision of a prosthetic structure for handling a ball adjustable in the first instance to the lengths of the remaining limbs in a population of amputees and in the second instance to the range of throwing movements of the remaining portion of a limb of each particular amputee.
Another difficulty involves provision of a prosthetic structure for handling a ball which has an amount of flexure in response the mass and type of the ball being handled adjustable to aid in release of the ball from the prosthetic structure.
Another difficulty involves provision of a prosthetic device having a structure which allows the amputee to control the travel path of the ball toward a target based on a substantially normal range of throwing movements of the remaining portion of the limb of the amputee.
Another difficulty involves provision of a prosthetic device having a structure which allows the amputee to control the velocity of the ball in a travel path toward a target over a relative broad velocity range from a few miles per hour to over 40 miles per hour or even greater.